Perfect Monster
by KaioM
Summary: Everything you do stays with you forever, unless, of course, you're forced to seal away your memories. Naruto makes more than one mistake, and ultimately has to fix it by himself. Sometimes being locked up under the Hokage's monument with countless chakra suppression seals on your person doesn't make you the monster… Severe AU.


Because, come on, who doesn't have a fic like this? Also: If you have read any of my other fics, I know they haven't been updated, but I lost my flash drive-you know, the one with all my stories on it-and my internet connection is getting really spotty for some reason, so I haven't been able to update. Moving on.

The inspiration for this story was the first couple chapters of _Something Scary_, by Plagius.

Disclaimer: All trademarks, characters, plotlines, et cetera of Naruto belong to their rightful owners. I make no salary from this fanfiction. This story is done purely for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of viewers.

The song used as linebreaks in this chapter is called 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', by Green Day.

* * *

**PERFECT MONSTER**

**Chapter One-Unimaginable**

From far away, he looked like some kind of deity.

It was easy to look at it that way, when you're peering into the one window on the three foot thick steel door. The thick, shinobi proof glass made the contents of the room appear blurry, leaving an observer with just the faint idea of what he looked like. Bright blonde, spiky, almost fluffy hair, long from lack of cuts. Bangs framed his face. In sleep he looked no less than angelic, at the first glance with the hazy vision provided by the barred window.

A steel cross hung from the ceiling, with him chained there. Steel bolts had been forced through his wrists and ankles, looking almost like the body of the prisoner had grown around them. Chains kept him held so tightly against the cross that it was a surprise in and of itself that the prisoner could even breathe. A chain wrapped around his neck was barbed; another went over his forehead, keeping the back of his head pressed against the cross. Countless seals covered him, all set to keeping his chakra down. In only calf length shorts and a tee shirt, the boy had more than enough skin to be covered by seals. A single seal slapped to his forehead was an explosive.

This is the Boy Who is Nothing.

Although the Boy doesn't know it, he'd just turned fifteen. Maybe, in another lifetime, the Boy would've had better control, would've been stronger. Maybe, just maybe, in another lifetime the Boy who is Nothing would've been seen as the hero instead of the monster.

The angelic picture of his face was ruined only by elongated canine teeth sticking out over his lip, thick whisker like scars that spread across his cheeks, and the explosive seal on his forehead. If you were to look at his entire body, the cross, bolts, seals, and chains would stop a 'This must be Kami incarnate!' fantasy without much effort. Then you'd take a closer look at him and notice the blue veins that were strangely predominant across his skin. After seeing that detail, the dark circles around his eyes would be next. Soon after, you'd stare a little harder at his skin, which was sickly, pasty, pale white.

The real hard work had been done by the Sandiame; getting the Boy Who is Nothing in his prison. At the cost of hundreds of lives, he was locked away, seven years back. The first year of his imprisonment was spent trying to kill him, which proved that the Boy was as close to invincible as anyone was ever going to get. Anyone who walked in didn't walk out, only exception being Sarutobi, and even that didn't last forever.

The hallway outside the door was just as dead silent as the room itself. Anbu guarded this chamber every second of every day since the incident, five years ago. One was stationed every few feet, each specially trained in subduing the Boy Who is Nothing. At the top of the long staircase leading back to the above ground level were two more; one who was prepared to activate the explosive seals all over the hallway and actual chamber, plus the one on the Boy Who is Nothing's head, and another who was trained in speed, prepared to sprint back up before anything collapsed and warn the village if anything went wrong. No one said a word, for fear of waking the silent beast.

After two years of everyone who went in the room dying instantly, weather it was an assassination attempt or a janitor, no one went inside. Five years prior, it was constant noise. But, slowly, without anyone inside, the screaming, cries of pain, cursing, even the occasional cough from the room slowly stopped. No one had been in the room for three years, and for two years now, the room had been as silent as the grave.

Of the few who even knew the Boy existed, most thought he might've died. After all, no one had seen any movement or heard even a small sound from Boy. Not for three years. The Sandiame used to release half a dozen squirrels into the prison each day, through a complicated system of passages, but the small animals were never eaten. They just starved to death in the giant cage, with their dead bodies growing in number. Evidently, the Boy wasn't eating them, so the Hokage just stopped. But the Boy still grew taller, his baby fat still shifted off until he was a mature adult in appearance. The bolts in his ankles were originally in his feet, but growth of the Boy and an amazing healing ability shifted them upwards, until the steel was in his ankles instead.

This is the Boy Who is Nothing.

And of the people who even knew he wasn't a myth thought he was dead.

Specialists were sure that, at the very least, he was brain dead.

This is the Boy Who is Nothing, and he could confirm that those people were wrong.

_I walk a lonely road_

_The only one that I have ever_

_**Known**_

_Don't know where it goes_

_But it's __**home**__ to me and I walk alone_

"Ne, isn't that weird?" A boy said to himself, motioning towards an empty cage covered in rust. "Even though it's gross, don't cages hold stuff?"

The boy had the brightest blue eyes you'd ever see, matched with hair that was more yellow than blonde. He wasn't the tallest, but he wasn't the shortest, either. Faint whisker marks adorned his cheeks.

"Hmm…" The boy murmured, staring out at the wide landscape that surrounded him. "My mind isn't really as interesting as I thought it was when I first got here. How long ago was that?" He paused, cocking his head to the side curiously. "I don't know!" He realized, staring around the world that surrounded him.

There was the rusty cage, which was pretty much boring, then there was the forest, which was pretty much boring, and the underground tunnels, which were pretty much boring, and the weird apartment building, which held only empty rooms…

Which were pretty much boring.

"Man!" The boy cried, falling backwards into the shallow water that surrounded the cage. "Why doesn't anyone visit me anymore? I get bored all by myself…"

The blonde child rolled over onto his stomach, staring at the rusty cage with unveiled interest. "Even the funny red fox is gone now…" After a moment or two of silence, the boy started talking again. "It's the fox's own fault that he disappeared!" The boy declared. "If the fox couldn't handle the game we were playing, it should have said so!"

"Not my fault that the fox couldn't play nearly as much as he said he could…"

The blonde boy sighed loudly. "At least the fox lasted longer than the old man."

Reminiscing in old memories, the boy grinned, his face animalistic. "Oh, that guy was all talk! It wasn't even hard to beat him at the game!"

His face became thoughtful once more. "I wonder why they even agree to the game if they know they're going to lose. If it were me, I wouldn't."

The boy nodded resolutely. "Humans are stupid!" He declared to himself. "I'm better off without them!"

His good mood evaporated when boredom regained a hold. The boy made an obnoxious face, then slowly turned to look over at the one thing that he hadn't touch once.

There was a small safe sitting innocently in the center of his makeshift universe. The boy didn't really know what was in it, but before he'd retreated to his mindscape, he'd known that it was important. The boy knew he wasn't supposed to open it, that it's content was to be kept safe, but the combination lock code was ringing in his head, and no one was here anyway…

The boy perked up suddenly, feeling the vibrations inside the mindscape.

"Ooh!" The boy chirped cheerfully, turning away from the metal safe. "Another challenger! Maybe this time, I'll be able to really have fun!"

The boy grinned to himself, closing his eyes; carefully melding out of his mindscape.

There was finally a visitor; finally someone who would play his game.

And there were totally going to lose.

Hard.

_I walk this empty street_

_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams_

_Where the city sleeps_

_And I'm the only one and I walk alone_

Everyone knew the story of the Boy Who is Nothing.

Everyone knew the myth of the boy. It was a scary story. It was a meaningless fairy tale, and that was the way everyone who knew the truth wanted it to stay.

Someone was always waiting, waiting, waiting until the day in which it was decided that it was safe to go inside the cage and burn the Boy's body.

The Sandiame went into the cage on the Boy's thirteenth birthday and never came back out. The Anbu later saw his body on the floor, in front of the door, clearly dead. It was too dangerous to save the body, leaving the dead Kage to rot in a cell built to never be opened. What was most disturbing was that they never heard anything from inside. It was like the Sandiame was killed through killing intent alone. Either way, the Boy didn't move even a centimeter and the Third Hokage was dead.

The official story was heart attack. The majority of Konoha believed that their Hokage had died peacefully in the comfort of his own home. The cover story behind not having a funeral for him was something about ninja codes and closure for family members.

Not a lot of people really remembered how it had started.

Not a lot of people really thought that this was the end.

There wasn't anyone left alive who could confirm the Boy's real identity. The Boy himself, the last time he was interrogated six years back, didn't seem to know who he was, either. Of course, no more information was gathered since then; after the interrogation, the eight year old boy had gone on a killing spree and was promptly locked up.

The Boy was nothing.

He had no loved ones.

He had no relatives.

He had nothing and therefore was nothing.

It was a story, meant to scare children into behaving.

Just a story.

To most of Konoha, just a story.

But to those who know the truth…

Nothing is more terrifying then the Boy Who is Nothing.

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me_

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating_

_Sometimes_

_I wish someone out there will find me_

The Sandiame Hokage had died, leaving only his disgustingly graphic notebooks on the Boy behind. The Godaime Hokage was willing to take any risk if it meant saving Konoha, and had jumped on the Sandiame's notebooks like nothing else.

Akatsuki had them against the wall, while the other villages seemed to be taking it into their own hands to do the same. Konoha was strong, and no one would ever deny that without being a liar. But the Godaime, just like everyone else in the village, knew they weren't going to last. It just wouldn't happen, not without a bigger weapon. Without something bigger, they'd last three or four years, give or take one. Meaning, in two years, she would need a loyal killing machine. She wasn't enough of an idiot to think that the Boy would ever be loyal, but perhaps, she could make a deal with him. She would sell her soul to the devil if it meant enough power to defend her village.

Little did the Hokage know that selling her soul wasn't too far off.

Suna was practically untouchable, with Shukaku protecting it. All the sand around there made it the perfect defense.

Kumo? Don't even joke about that. They had the Gyukii and the Nibi protecting them. And, unlike Shukaku, their tailed beasts didn't demand blood sacrifices.

Kiri was the most power hungry, savage nation. Too many lives would be lost.

Iwa already held grudges against them. It didn't take much incentive for them to join forces with Suna in the hopes of destroying Konoha.

Konoha was in a bad place. With Akatsuki, Suna, and Iwa attacking them… Well, things weren't going very well. Five years back, when Suna had invaded Konoha, it'd started a war that just wouldn't quit. With Hiruzen already dead, killed by the Boy himself, Konoha was in no place to fight off an invasion. They'd barely gotten through, and that was only by threatening to kill one Uchiha Sasuke if Orochimaru didn't retreat. It seemed that the snake wanted Sasuke more than expected, considering that Orochimaru listened.

But it didn't seem to matter anymore. Konoha was barely fighting off the shinobi that threatened to invade from the wall. Enemies were literally on their doorstep.

In the Godaime's mind, that was where the Boy came in.

The small click of high heels echoed down the normally silent underground hallway. Although not seen, shinobi stiffened instinctively while watching their Kage walk stiffly down the hallway.

This would soon be a full out war. And in war, people do things they wouldn't normally think about doing. In better circumstances, the Boy would've stayed hidden. He never would've seen sunlight again. He would have grown old and died in his cell.

_Okay, no._ The Fifth amended. _In better circumstances, the Boy never would've gone crazy. In better circumstances, we wouldn't be at war._

But this would soon be war. So, a person who knew very well what the monster behind the door she planned to open was capable of kept walking. Because this was practically war already, and Konoha was losing, and if everyone was going to die within five years anyway, why the fuck not, right?

A single tear slid down the Hokage's cheek, wiped away before it could go any further.

"It's time." She murmured, more to herself than any observers. She stared at the floor, despite herself afraid of the door in front of her. "I'm going to open this door and face what's behind it."

She took a couple shuffling steps forward, clenching her fists at her sides. In her lifetime, the Godaime had given up a lot; family, friends, students. Then there were the things she had never known, but sacrificed all the same; the Leaf shinobi who jumped in front of her during battle, taking hits that would've killed her. She would never be able to say anything to them, those who sacrificed themselves for her. It hurt, being helpless in the face of danger.

So many were dead, so many more soon to be. But that didn't stop the thick feeling of uncertainty.

What if this didn't work? What if she was killed the moment she entered the room? What if it did work, and then that… Thing in there turned on Konoha? What if, what if, what if?

"Stop it." She whispered harshly, her clenched fists actually beginning to hurt from the force. "You need him. Without him, Konoha won't last."

_But what about with him?_ A frightened voice in her head cried. _How will we last then?_

The Godaime stared blankly at the seal coated door. She peeked through the glass, then squeezed her eyes shut.

_Why am I so frightened? _The Fifth calmed herself, taking in deep breaths. _This isn't going to end as bad as everyone seems to think it will, right?_

She bit her thumb, drawing blood, then pressed her hand against the door, gently pushing her chakra inside the system of seals that locked her out. They needed the blood and chakra of a Hokage to activate, meaning that if she died without naming her successor, this door would be locked forever.

_How nice would it be to never have to open it._

The seals slowly unraveled, falling back until they had retreated into a border around the door frame. The Godaime brought her hand to the lock wheel, spinning it left.

An audible click, and the door slipped open a millimeter or two. Air rushed out of the room. The Anbu around the chamber tensed.

The Godaime Hokage of Konoha pushed open the door.

The steady beat of her heels on the floor was strangely comforting for the shinobi around her. Her long pants, going tight around her ankles, swished easily as she walked. Her sleeveless gray shirt was mostly hidden by a deep jade colored jacket.

She stood directly in front of the cross. Stared at the Boy, a boy who could've easily turned out different. Slowly, carefully, she walked closer, heels still clicking. The Kage didn't dare touch him, no matter how strong she was. The words of her elders, of those who had seen the blood bash murmured against her. The Yondaime's old student, Uchiha Obito, rung the loudest.

"_This isn't a shinobi you're dealing with, Hokage-sama. This is a monster."_

The Hokage stared, hard, at the demonic boy, looking for any sign of movement. If he was dead… If she failed…

No touching. That much was written in stone across the demon handling instruction booklet.

So the Godaime stared at the Boy. He seemed… Motionless. Dead.

What if he was dead? What if this didn't work? What if he didn't understand human speech any longer?

The question echoed endlessly in her head. What if he _was_ dead?

Then the Boy's eyes shot open, bright blue and so undeniably human that it hurt. They practically sparkled with mirth.

Killing intent like nothing the Godaime had ever faced before saturated the cage faster than seemed possible.

_He can't hurt you, he can't, he's chained up, stay calm, please, you need him, for Konoha, he can't hurt you…_

The Boy's hands flexed a little, claws slipping out from under his relatively normal nails. His tongue went over white teeth, canines sharp and deadly. Slight hints of red shivered across his hair and skin.

_If he can't hurt me…_ The Kage just barely gained enough control to take one small step back. _Then how did the Third die?_

Abruptly, it all stopped. The Godaime gasped, staring into the eyes of Him, the Boy.

He didn't scowl.

He didn't scream.

He didn't struggle against the bars in an effort to attack her.

Instead, he chirped out a greeting. "Hello, miss!"

The Kage didn't think he seemed insane at all.

But he was.

"Hello." She forced herself to say. "I'd like to make a deal."

The Boy frowned, his face confused. "A deal? So, like… A game?"

Konoha had no idea what their Kage had done when she nodded and replied in the affirmative.

_That __**divides**__ me, somewhere in my mind_

_On the borderline_

_Of the edge of where_

_I_

_Walk alone_

"What kind of game?" The blonde asked. He wanted to tilt his head to the side in confusion, or maybe flail his arms a little, but in the cage, he couldn't really move as freely as he could in his mindscape. "Because, I'll have you know, that I only play a couple games."

The boy glowed with pride. "I've never lost, not against nobody!"

"Well," The strange woman challenger said. "I was thinking about a game in which you pretend to be a shinobi."

All cheer left the boy, killing intent spreading off of him. The air itself felt tainted by death.

"I ain't pretending to be human, miss. That's a game I won't play."

The woman seemed scared of the boy, which made him smile a little, but forcefully tied down her fear. "Then we don't have to play that game. Why don't we play a gambling game instead?"

"A gambling game? So, like, a bet?"

"Got it in one."

"I don't wanna make some bet. Those games aren't fun at all." The boy told her. This challenger was turning out to be no fun, no fun at all. The boy's thoughts drifted back to the safe in his mindscape. Maybe opening that would be fun?

"What kind of game _do_ you want to play?" The woman asked him. The boy wondered briefly if her neck hurt from looking up at him.

"I want to play _the_ game."

The woman challenger wasn't too stupid. She didn't question him. That was nice.

It'd be more fun ruining her forever, though.

"Okay." The woman challenger said. "What does _the_ game entail?"

"I dunno." The blonde said. "But before I locked the safe, it meant fighting."

The woman paused. "What do you mean?"

"I'll fight against you, or for you, or with you. Then, when it's over, the winner is picked through a couple more matches. The rules are really hard to follow, and…" The boy trailed off when the woman challenger's eyes seemed to glaze over. It didn't matter how much she spent thinking; he had all the time in the world.

"I'll play."

The boy smiled.

She was losing faster than he had first thought she would.

"Okay." The boy said. "The game starts whenever you say go. Then you can decide which mode you want to play in; together mode, enemy mode, or weapon mode."

The woman challenger was thinking. Wondering. Weighing the pros and cons. Deciding.

The boy could tell already.

She was going to lose.

"Go." The woman challenger finally said. "Weapon mode."

The boy nodded to her cheerily. "Okay, then! I'm now your weapon, and I'll heed your every beck and call!"

The woman challenger looked relieved, but nervous. The boy smiled again. "What's your name?"

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours?" The woman challenger was starting to get comfortable around him. Starting to think that he wasn't a monster. Starting to believe that he was human.

Same mistake the others made.

And they're dead now.

"Okay!" The boy paused, confused. Then sheepish. "Oh, sorry, I forgot! I don't have a name!"

"Hmm…" The woman stared at him appraisingly. "What do you want to be called?"

"Tsuki!" The blonde, now having dubbed himself 'Tsuki' decided.

The woman challenger frowned. "Okay."

Tsuki struggled uncomfortably in his bonds, then repeated his question to the woman challenger. "What's your name?"

The woman challenger brushed back a straight, red lock of hair from her face. "Uzumaki Kushina. I guess you're under my command now, 'ttebane?"

Tsuki hid his smile from her, fighting to keep it down. _I always win games. You just made a deal with the wrong person, lady._

_Maybe you should look at all the rules before you play._

"I guess so. Aren't I lucky?"

_Sometimes, I wish someone out there will find me_

'_Til then, I_

_Walk_

_**Alone**_


End file.
